The 2019 Ole Miss Rebels football team represented The University of Mississippi in the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Rebels played their home games at VaughtâÂÂHemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi and competed in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were led by third-year head coach Matt Luke.
Head coach Matt Luke bolstered his coaching staff with the hiring of two former Power 5 head coaches to coordinator positions prior to the 2019 season. The school announced the hiring of Mike MacIntyre to be the new defensive coordinator on December 10, 2018, and announced the hiring of Rich Rodriguez as the new offensive coordinator on December 31. MacIntyre had spent the previous six seasons as the head coach at Colorado and replaced 2018 co-defensive coordinators Wesley McGriff and Jason Jones, who both parted ways with Ole Miss. Rodriguez was most recently the head coach of Arizona, leaving after the 2017 season, and has also coached at West Virginia and Michigan. He replaced former offensive coordinator Phil Longo, who left to assume the same role at North Carolina.
<small>Listed in the order that they were released</small>
The SEC media poll was released on July 19, 2019 with the Rebels predicted to finish in sixth place in the West Division.
The Rebels' 2019 recruiting class finished at 22nd in the nation and 9th in the SEC, according to 247Sports.com.
Ole Miss announced its 2019 football schedule on September 18, 2018. The 2019 schedule consisted of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Rebels would host SEC opponents Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, and LSU, and would travel to Alabama, Missouri, Auburn, and Mississippi State.
The Rebels opened the 2019 season on the road against rivals, Memphis from The American. The Rebels then hosted Southeastern Louisiana from the FCS on September 14. The first ever Pac-12 team visited Oxford on September 21 when California played the Rebels. The Rebels would play their final non-conference game on November 9 against FBS Independent, New Mexico State.
The Rebels were trailing 21âÂÂ14 late in the 4th quarter before quarterback Matt Corral capped a 82-yard, 2:02 drive with a 2-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Elijah Moore with just 4 seconds left in the game to make the deficit 21âÂÂ20. Following the touchdown, Moore would drop down to his knees, crawl to the back of the end zone, and lift his leg, pretending to urinate like a dog; Ole Miss would receive a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for Moore's celebration on the ensuing point-after-attempt (PAT). Ole Miss kicker Luke Logan would miss the PAT and the Rebels failed to recover the onside kick, sealing the one-point victory for the Bulldogs.